Dr. S. David Vaillancourt

Dr. S. David Vaillancourt

About me

Dr. S. David Vaillancourt currently serves as the Vice President of Academic Affairs for the College of Health Care Professions based in Houston, Texas. Prior to this post he worked as an e-Learning consultant for companies across the USA. His primary research focus over the past four years has been the development of online learning Engagement Metrics. Dr. Vaillancourt’s 27 years of service in education includes multiple levels of experience in both private and public educational institutions. His professional positions include Online Campus President for Virginia College, National Dean of ITT's Online Division, Director of Education for Ultimate Medical Academy, President of a two-campus allied health college in Utah, Certified Cisco Academy Instructor, Master Certified Novell Instructor, and K-12 public school science teacher.

Dr. Vaillancourt’s BS and MS in Education were earned from Samford University in 1983 and 1989, respectively. He completed his Ed.D. in Instructional Technology and Distance Education from Nova Southeastern University in May 2004. Dr. Vaillancourt designed, founded and chaired the non-profit National Math Bee (2006-2011), which provided an online learning community for over 15,000 elementary school mathematics students in 37 states across the country.  He was a US Army soldier prior to his career in education.

Activity

Excellent, John. Long term planning and monitoring of instructional behaviors and their impact on student outcome attainment. Thank you.
The 'personalized' Socratic approach is a traditionally sound strategy in face-2-face and online instruction. Your examples are great! The 'credit system' is sure to enhance the strategy. Nice job!
John, Your statements are 'spot on' for all points. Communicating clear expectations can significantly ehnance so-so curriculum, and vice versa. The follow through you identify is excellent. One step further...In your experience,what is the best proactive way to determine the expectations are clear?
Kevin, you may be correct. The extraordinary increase of electronic access to information and electronic facilitation of human interaction seems almost limitless at this point. It ios probably just a matter of time. Will books be totally unused and kept in museums like the Guttenburg printing press?

Dawn, I agree with you on all counts - good points. Additionally, that the change in the minds of people to accept online degrees, you mentioned, is well underway. Current research indicates that many students who would have gone back to school (anyway) in the brick and mortar classroom have opted for the online because of the flexibility. In this way online learning is replacing some of the traditional classrooms. However, there does not seem to be an extinguishment of traditional classrooms indicated to occur within our lifetimes. Do you think there are any enhancements to online instruction that could… >>>

This is a very important one. Sometimes online students don't recognize their responsibility to read class updates. This is most certainly an excellent heads up for the students. Do you have a recommended frequency for the students to repeat the 'check-in' within your classes?
This is not an unusual scenario for an early, lower level class at many schools. Do you teach for a state university? private college? for profit? Is it an entry class? undergrad or grad? We find that many different circumstances are found across the spectrum of classes, but (generally) drop rates tend to get lower as students get further along in their studies. Does that seem to be commensurate with your experience?
Nice going. Keep it positive and non-argumentative. Eliciting the 'expertise' of the student is an excellent strategy to open discussion and get the student to think about the topic(s) more indepth. The last statement is a great closer. Nice job! (Seems you may have done this before. - )
Excellent answer! - same responsibilities but different methods and/or skills to carry out those responsibilities.
Agreed. It also has been noted that as students provide their opinions, other classmates are more inclined to respond to the question and/or to the student answers to the question. Thanks

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